Trenton's Foundation Academy pulling ahead of public schools

At Foundation Academy on South Broad Street in Trenton, the uniformed students fall into line in the hallway outside their classrooms before each new period begins.

The lines are straight and mannerly. There is a striking absence of cell phone use, and no pushing or yelling. And when teacher Stephanie Henderson opens the door to her eighth-grade English class, a hush not usually associated with middle school students descends on the entire hallway.

The order speaks to a two-way commitment practiced at the fifth- through 12th-grade academy since its opening six years ago. Teachers insist on a “No Excuses” policy of conduct, and the students — keenly aware of their luck in being here — practice it.

One of just six charter schools operating in Mercer County today, Foundation has not only achieved test scores exceeding the average for the state’s urban public schools, but is besieged each year with new applicants.

Its recent lottery — the state-mandated drawing at which students are chosen for the next school year — selected just 220 from the 450 middle- and high school students who sought admission.

So far, Foundation is a standout in Trenton.

In the past three years alone, three city charter schools have failed and one was saved at the 11th hour when a nonprofit group took it over. Foundation stands as one of the “shining examples” of what charter schools can accomplish, according to Michael Turner, an advocate for the New Jersey Charter Schools Association.

Unlike private prep schools, New Jersey’s charter schools do not charge admission. They are open to any students within the neighborhood being served. Preferential admission is not permitted, except in the case of siblings. Administrators must apply to the DOE for a charter, which is renewed every five years.

Foundation’s administrators say its results have much to do with the No Excuses model of education under which it operates. The model has found success in other urban districts, uch as the North Star Academy in Newark and the Democracy Prep charter schools in Harlem, N.Y. Founders toured those schools as part of their design process back in 2005.

“Our No Excuses program has three key elements: Highest standards, data driven, and tough love,” said co-founder and Executive Director Ronald Brady.

“Under the highest standards heading, every single one of our students, regardless of their background or whether they’re three levels behind when they arrive, receives a college preparatory education,” said Brady.

“They’re all on the college track. We expect that every one of them will go.

“We are data driven. Everything we do, we measure. And we have lots and lots of tough love,” he adds. “The students earn everything here at Foundation.

“We don’t give them A’s or F’s, they earn them. We don’t give them Foundation shirts, they earn them. We don’t give them a detention, they earn it. So if they’re one minute late to school, they earn a one-hour detention that same day. So get here on time.”
PROGRAM WORKING ON ALL LEVELS

The program seems to be working at both the middle school campus, with its 250 pupils, and the 130 high school students at a second building on Grant Street.

According to Turner, the percentage of Foundation students passing the New Jersey State Assessments in 2011, the latest year for which figures are available, is 55 percent in literacy compared with a state average of 30 percent; and 81 percent in math, compared with a state figure of 35 percent, said Brady.

An independent state-by-state empirical study run by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) at Stanford University found that New Jersey charter students gain an additional two months of learning progress each year in reading over their district counterparts, and three extra months in math. The CREDO report was released last November.

For parent Tiknika Nollie, who has three students at Foundation, the academic rigor and the partnership with administrators has made all the difference.

“My daughter, who is in eighth grade, has always been challenged by the environment here. Her scores are higher, her reading has been on a ninth-grade level since sixth grade, and she’s a part of the honors orchestra,” said Nollie. “The teachers helped bring out that side of her that, as a parent, I’ve always wanted to see.”

Nollie’s fifth-grader just arrived at Foundation this year. He is “struggling a little” under the academic demands, she said. But only because he is pushed to reach his potential in a way that he has never experienced before.

“And he loves it,” she added.

Along with the college pennants hanging from the hallway ceilings — Ole Miss and Clemson mixing with Harvard, Brown and Tennessee State — Foundation has instituted a number of unusual practices to ensure student success.

Teachers are available to their students by cell phone every day through 9 p.m., said middle school principal Sheria Andrews. There are home visits to each new student before the school year begins. There are two hours of homework every night for every student.

And if a student is floundering, teachers stay after school to work out a plan, or show up at the student’s home to find out why.

“Our expectations are very clear for our students. We verbalize them all day long, and they’re consistent in every classroom,” said Andrews.

“They have to work hard. They have to put effort into everything they do. Before they even walk into the building on their first day, they know that’s our expectation.”

Turner, who is with Burton Trent Public Affairs, a consulting corporation working with the charter schools association, said that charter schools have a difficult time because they are held to a higher standard of performance than the average public district.

FREE TO DEVELOP OWN PROGRAMS

Charter schools are free to develop and run their own programs and curricula, but their licenses are overseen by the state and can be revoked if the performance is lacking.

“The DOE is just so tolerant with how the charter schools are being managed and how the students are testing, and if they don’t like it, the school can be shut down,” said Turner. “The DOE does not take that lightly.”

About half the students in Newark, he added, attend charter schools.

Charters there have been so successful they have begun working on best practices directly with the public schools.

This is not always the case, however. In 2011 and 2012, Trenton lost three of its charter schools, including Capital Preparatory, Trenton Community and Emily Fisher, because the DOE refused to renew their charters. For example, Emily Fisher was shut down when the DOE cited low test scores and a “culture of low expectations.”

The Paul Robeson Charter School, in turn, was saved only when its entire board of trustees agreed to resign. The school was taken over by a Philadelphia-based nonprofit group in 2012.

There are 86 charter schools currently operating in the state. Together they serve about 30,000 students — with another 20,000 languishing on waiting lists, according to Turner.

“Charters also operate on a fraction of what is normally spent for a public school student,” he said. “It’s maybe 15 percent to 20 percent less per student. You wish there were more available spaces for all these kids.”